We had a similar problem on our Archer a few years ago. The ampmeter in the
Archer is actually a voltmeter, reading the voltage across a length of wire
in series with the alternator output. On our plane the wire loop is strapped
to the engine mount. the wire connections can gets weathered, and get a
little corroded, and asa result of the corrosion the voltage drop increases,
which the ampmeter reads as increased alternator output. Cleaning the
connections on the ampmeter shunt wire has always restored the readings to
what appear to be resonable numbers. How do you tell?

If the landing light or pitot heat are rated at 100 watts, look for around
an 8 amp rise in alt output when you switch each consumer on. If the metered
rise is higher than the load you've added (which is specified in your POH)
the the meter calibration is off and should be corrected, usually by fixing
the shunt connections.

Cheers,

Jerry
"Michael Bremer" wrote in message
ink.net...
Looking for some opinions and I know that there are no shortage of those
here.

I just returned from a little night ride to get my three landings and
noticed what appears to be an abnormal reading from the ammeter.

When on the ground, preparing for takeoff, I see a significant rise on the
ammeter when I switch the landing light and fuel pump on. I know that
this
is normal, particularly with the landing light drawing a good bit of
juice.

The question is...When applying full engine power for takeoff, the ammeter
rose off the scale. Not a sudden pop of the needle, but a pronounced rise
as the RPM went up. When throttling back to cruise power, the meter drops
to a more normal reading?

Opinions???

Thanks

Mike